Crime & Safety
Martinez Man Arrested In Staples, Lumber Store Burglaries
The suspect, along with an Oakland man, were reportedly busted driving on Highway 101 in a vehicle stolen from a Concord dealership.
Two men from Martinez and Oakland were arrested Friday in connection with a burglary at a Santa Rosa Staples store, according to police.
Police were first called to the Staples on Cleveland Avenue in Santa Rosa around 4 a.m. on a report of a burglary, in which the windows were smashed and computers stolen, according to Sgt. Michael Chad Heiser.
The suspects were last seen driving away in a white SUV, heading toward southbound U.S. Highway 101, Heiser said.
The suspect and vehicle descriptions in the burglary matched those from a burglary that had occurred the previous day at 5 a.m. at Mead Clark Lumber at on Dowd Drive in Santa Rosa, Heiser said.
Petaluma police spotted and stopped a suspect vehicle on southbound U.S. Highway 101 and contacted Richard Eugene Smith, 34, of Martinez, and Michael Cornell Knox, 54, of Oakland.
The suspects were arrested after items stolen from the Staples store were found in the vehicle, and the vehicle itself, a Toyota Highlander, was found to have been stolen from a Concord Toyota dealership earlier this year, Heiser said.
Smith and Knox were arrested on suspicion of burglary, possession of stolen property, possession of a stolen vehicle and conspiracy.
Smith was also arrested on suspicion of an additional charge of burglary in connection with the Mead Clark Lumber burglary.
--Bay City News
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